national Healthcare: Unnecessary Surgeries/Pathology Errors

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/province-adds-two-other-windsor-hos\

pitals-to-mastectomy-probe/article1485411/

Province adds two other Windsor hospitals to mastectomy probe

Sunnybrook CEO will lead team in investigating unnecessary surgeries, pathology

errors at facilities in Ontario

Howlett

Toronto — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Published on Monday, Mar. 01, 2010 11:55AM EST

Last updated on Monday, Mar. 01, 2010 9:32PM EST

The Ontario government has appointed investigators at all three hospitals in

Windsor to review pathology test errors and botched medical procedures. But it

has no plans to expand the probe beyond the border city, where anxiety is

running high over mistaken mastectomies on two women.

Dr. Barry McLellan, chief executive officer of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

in Toronto and Ontario's former chief coroner, will lead the parallel

investigations into 3,000 pathology tests dating back two years, as well as

surgical errors.

" We do think this deserves high priority, " said Deb s, Ontario's Health

Minister, in explaining why the province took the rare step Monday of

intervening. " When there's uncertainty in the system, we need to put people's

minds [to] rest as quickly as we can. "

Ms. s said she hopes the review can be completed by June. " There is

absolutely no indication that this goes beyond Windsor, " she said.

France Gélinas, health critic for the provincial New Democrats, said it would be

premature for the government to expand the probe beyond Windsor.

" The last thing you want to do is send panic or send messages that say the

system is not safe, " she told reporters.

The probes follow the acknowledgment by Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital last week that

Barbara Heartwell performed mastectomies on two women who did not have cancer.

Dr. Heartwell, who has successfully treated thousands of breast-cancer patients

in the Windsor area, has voluntarily stopped performing surgeries.

Hôtel-Dieu also said it launched its own review in November of 15,000 pathology

tests dating back to 2003, after an " adverse medical event " involving another

doctor, Olive , who was suspended in January.

Hôtel-Dieu said in a statement that so far " seven serious cases have come to

light. " The government's investigators are also reviewing pathology tests at

Windsor Regional Hospital and Leamington District Memorial Hospital because all

three use the same laboratory. However, the vast majority of samples are from

Hôtel-Dieu's patients.

Harte, a medical malpractice lawyer in Richmond Hill, Ont., said a number

of concerned patients have been in contact with his office.

" Unfortunately, calls to the [Hôtel-Dieu] hotline are not being returned … and

the paucity of information provided to the media so far has done little to shed

light on the situation, which is understandably alarming to many people in the

Windsor area, " he said.

Both doctors are under investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons

of Ontario.